Everything is always in process. Flapping like a butterfly, the Network is watching and working on the Compassion Project. The First sharing economy was knowledge. A non-profit blog enabling the exploration and efficient sharing of information, thoughts, and opinion, regarding autism, cosmology, philosophy, politics, psychology, science, sociology, theology, and truth. "It is time to tell all."

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Thursday, October 4, 2012

A Quantum Leap in Computers

The following is a re-posting of an article on Science Matters about the beginning of the new generation of computers with power far beyond what currently exists. So great, in fact, that its full potential is unknown because it will be capable of things that we haven't dreamed up yet. It is a true paradigm shif and it all begins with the first successful qubit, the quantum computer equivalent of the transistor in the present generation of computers. Congratulations Australia.

First working ‘qubit’ a quantum computing breakthrough

A group of Australian and British researchers, including some from the University of Melbourne, have published a paper in the journal Nature about their creation of the first working ‘qubit’ based on a single atom in silicon.

Dr. Andrea Morello and Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, from the
University of New South Wales School of Electrical Engineering and
Telecommunications, led the research team of researchers from the UNSW,
the University of Melbourne and London’s University College.

In 2010, this same research group demonstrated the ability to read the state of an electron’s spin.

Following on from this, their work effectively used a microwave field
to control the spin – or magnetic orientation – of an electron bound to
a single atom in order to read and write information. This second step
makes it possible to actually operate a quantum bit.

Scientia Professor Dzurak explains: “For the first time, we have
demonstrated the ability to represent and manipulate data on the spin to
form a quantum bit, or ‘qubit’, the basic unit of data for a quantum
computer”. “This is a remarkable scientific achievement – governing
nature at its most fundamental level – and has profound implications for
quantum computing”.

Artist
Tony Melov’s impression of a phosphorus atom (red sphere in the middle
of an electron ‘cloud’. The arrow indicates the spin direction)
connected to a silicon single-electron transistor. Microwave radiation
(light blue) is used to ‘write’ data into the electron spin. Credit:
Tony Melov

According to Dr. Morello, quantum computers have the potential to
solve complex problems that existing computers, including
supercomputers, cannot. “These include data-intensive problems, such as
cracking modern encryption codes, searching databases, and modelling
biological molecules and drugs.”

The use of silicon is important as it relates to the
manufacturability of quantum computing. The entire computing industry is
familiar with silicon as a material and therefore its use could
facilitate the more rapid development of quantum computers.

Professor David Jamieson, of the University of Melbourne’s School of
Physics led the team that implanted the phosphorus atom into the silicon
device. Professor Jamieson said: “Our team has the unique expertise to
implant a single phosphorus atom into the correct location of a
nanoscale quantum device.”

David
Jamieson (left) and Changyi Yang with the the special quantum computer
device chip holder ready to be loaded into the ion implantation system.

This implantation technique meant that the UNSW team could control
the quantum mechanical state of the single electron in orbit around the
engineered atom. Jamieson believes that “this technique could have wider
applications unlocking the potential of smaller classical silicon
transistors predicted by Moore’s Law”.

The research team will continue their investigations, now focussing
on how to combine pairs of qubits in order to establish a two-qubit
logic state for processing.

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About Me

The Pündi are a race from my fantasy novels, the Continuum Chronicles, an exploration of spiritual evolution theory. Appearing like us, they are really child-sized aliens cursed by their own intelligence, trapped as observers unable to share their knowledge. They often develop an individual obsessive interest.

I write and publish, not selling anything, just trying to share ideas that might profit everyone. I aim not for originality but creativity, organizing what exists to generate new associations. I'm a writer with thick glasses and autism, familiar with the struggle for clarity. Novelist, researcher, internet activist, spiritual evolutionist, and process philosopher, I believe in democratic social capitalism with a well-regulated engine of sustainable markets. As a writer, I find that most blockages tend to be improvements trying to occur to me.